The Life of a Hero
by FirearmPrime
Summary: Living her life as a mutant was hard enough... being dragged into a team of so-called "Avengers"... not what Katherine had in mind... ever. There is one positive thing to come out of it though... a certain soldier boy. Rated just to be safe. Please let me know if I should continue! Follow, Fave, and Review! SteveXOC
1. The Past is the Past

**A/N: SHE LIVES! Sorry I haven't written anything in so long, school is kicking my butt! My other laptop decided to stop working so I had to go out and buy a new one, which caused me to lose my Fast & Furious sequel. I did manage to save my TMNT story, which I will try to start working on very soon for those who are waiting for that one. I've been on an Avengers-kick recently so here is a story about my Avengers character! Please let me know what you guys think and if I should continue it! Please review, follow, and fav! Thanks! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Katherine!**

_Katherine Howlett turned her gaze from the fire when her little brother, James Howlett, coughed. He was always getting sick, though, she didn't know why. She or their older half-brother, Victor Creed, were never sick. Victor sat off to the side, filing his nails into claws, a habit she'd seen him develop over time._

"_You're always sick." Victor said the very thought that'd just run through Katherine's head. James coughed again._

"_You were sick when you were my age." He said back. Victor watched him for a moment before looking back down at his nails (claws). The door opened a moment later, causing Victor and Katherine to stand quickly. Victor hid the file and his clawed hands behind his back and the fire behind Katherine flickered in an odd manner. A few years ago, she'd learned that she could control the elements, weather, and things of nature such as trees. James' and Katherine's father walked in._

"_Evening sir." Victor said politely._

"_Evening Victor." Her father said back. "I didn't realize you were still here."_

"_I was just keeping James and Katherine company, sir, if that's all right." Victor answered the man, watching him as he sat down on James' bedside. Her father had his back to her and Victor so she couldn't see his facial expression. The man had never been fond of the boy, considering Katherine was around his age. He deemed her impressionable and that Victor would only corrupt her in some way._

"_Very kind of you." He said to Victor before turning back to James. "Any better, son?" He laid a hand on James' forehead._

"_Still cold, father." James answered._

"_Just a mild fever. You'll be all right in the morning." Their father said._

"_You always say that." James said with a smile. Their father laid his hand over James', chuckling softly._

"_And you always pull through, don't you?" He asked. Katherine and Victor watched the scene silently. James had always been a favorite compared to Katherine, at least to their father._

"_Yeah."_

"_Now, you taking your medicine?" Their father asked before there was a pounding at the door._

"_Elizabeth! Elizabeth!" Thomas Logan shouted, the four of them could hear him from the second story._

"_Your father's drunk again." The man said drawing Victor's attention to him. Katherine moved a little closer to her older brother. It had taken her a while to come to terms with the fact that the man sitting on the bed wasn't their biological father but their step-father. Thomas Logan, the man beating on the door downstairs, was their father. "You should help him home, Victor." John Howlett, their "father", said over his shoulder._

"_It's not my name he's calling, sir." Victor said, gently holding Katherine's hand as she placed it in his. John got up quickly, moving to the door._

"_Father!" James called after him._

"_Stay where you are James, Katherine." Then he was gone. They could hear their mother yelling downstairs._

"_Father!" James called again. Victor released Katherine's hand, walking to the door; he looked back at his younger siblings before closing the door behind him. They listened to the arguing for a moment before there was a gunshot, causing both Howlett children to jump. James suddenly jumped out of bed, running to the door._

"_James! No!" Katherine called after him before running after the boy. They came to the edge of the balcony and looked over. John was lying dead and Thomas was holding their mother, Elizabeth, back from getting to him. James ran down the stairs and Katherine followed, trying to stop the boy. He ran to their downed father, kneeling next to him. John said something to the boy before he stilled, dead._

"_James? Katherine?" Thomas asked carefully. "There are things you don't understand."_

"_Don't." Elizabeth said, trying to get away from him._

"_I need them to know."_

"_Please don't."_

"_No more lies."_

"_James…" Katherine glanced at her younger brother, her eyes widened when she saw three pieces of bone extended through the skin from between the areas of his knuckles. He was terrified. Victor, Katherine, Elizabeth, and Thomas watched on in shocked silence. James screamed before standing up and running towards Thomas, impaling him through the stomach with all six claws. Thomas said something to James, causing him to look at their mother before he ran out the open door. It didn't take long for Victor and Katherine to catch up with him. Victor tackled him to the ground, both stood up and James turned to face them, hands positioned to fight them if he needed to._

"_I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it!" James said to them in a frantic voice._

"_Yes, you did!" Victor said in a firm voice. "He deserved it and you gave it to him. We're family, Jimmy. You realize that? You, me, and Katherine. And family protects each other. You have to be hard now, hard so nothing can ever touch us." Victor said as he laid his hands on Jams' shoulders. Katherine stepped up so she was standing at their side._

"_I want to go home." James said in a small voice._

"_We can't." Katherine said, drawing their younger brother's attention to her. "We have to stick together, no matter what."_

"_And take care of anyone who gets in our way." Victor finished. "Can you do that, little brother?" James watched his older siblings for a moment before he nodded his head._

"_They're coming." Katherine said as she looked towards the voices and lights coming towards them._

"_Can you run?" Victor asked James, who nodded his answer. The three of them took off through the trees._

"_Keep on running, don't look back." Victor said as they jumped over roots and weaved around threes. Katherine knew from that point… her life as well as the lives of her brothers was never going to be the same again._

_Katherine never imaged war being in her future. Once Victor, James, and herself had gotten away from the people coming to get them for killing their father, they spent years in wars. She'd discovered that on top of her elemental powers that she, like her brothers, had an accelerated healing factor as well as heightened scenes. The three of them had seen multiple wars and during the Korean War, when Victor decided to kill a commanding officer, it had landed them in a military prison. Their execution was supposed to be by firing squad… with the healing factor, one can imagine how that turned out. A few weeks later, the door was opened, blinding the siblings momentarily. A man was standing in front of them; he was in an army uniform, decorated with all different kinds of metals. "My name is Major William Stryker. You've been charged with killing a senior officer. Is that correct?"_

"_Apparently, we have some issues with authority…" Victor said in a low voice._

"_Just keep a lid on it." James said to him._

"…_sir." Victor said with sarcasm dripping from his voice. This caused Katherine to chuckle._

"_The warden tells me that your sentence was carried out by a firing squad at 1000 hours. How'd that go?" Stryker asked them._

"_It tickled." Katherine said, leaning her head against the wall behind her, watching the man closely. She reached up, brushing some of her short hair out of her face. She'd been disguised as a man for the longest time so that she could fight on the frontline with Victor and James. Stryker smiled before pulling off his sunglasses._

"_Are you tired of running? Tired of denying your true nature?" Stryker asked, taking small steps towards the siblings._

"_What do you care?" Victor asked._

"_Oh, I care. I care because I know how special you are. How valuable." Stryker kneeled down. "Look, you can stay here locked up like freaks of nature, or you can join me." This caught their attention. "I'm putting together a special team with special privileges." Victor glanced at Katherine and Logan, who did the same before looking at each other. "Now tell me, how would you like to really serve your country?"_

_Katherine rubbed her hand along James' back. She knew without him saying anything that he was getting airsick. She glanced at the men around her. They were all a part of this special team… they were all mutants. She'd actually become close to a few of them. The one sharpening his blades in front of her… she could sometimes live without however._

"_You know, I love this weapon more than any other thing in the whole world. Do you wanna know why?" Wade Wilson, the Merc with the Mouth, said to Victor as he leaned forward, holding the sword in his hands._

"_No." Victor answered simply._

"_It's memorable." Wade said, looking up at him. Katherine turned to him and raised an eyebrow._

"_How so?" She asked. He turned his attention to her and smirked._

"_Well doll," Victor growled lightly, a warning. "You whip out a couple of swords at your ex-girlfriend's wedding; they will never, ever forget it."_

"_That's funny, Wade." Victor said with a small smirk on his face. "I think you confuse me with someone who gives a shit." Wade scoffs as he leans back._

"_Right, it's probably not as intimidating as having a gun or bone claws or elemental powers or the fingernails of a bag lady." Wade said as he looked around the plane at each person he mentioned. Katherine glanced down, watching Victor's claws expand. Wade glanced down as well, one of his hands moving to the hilt of his sword while the other holding up a grindstone. "Manicure?" That caused Katherine to actually smile._

"_Victor, easy." James said to him when he noticed the claws extended. Victor was smirking at the Merc, Wade watched him for a moment before he decided to change the subject._

"_Fred got a new tattoo. I'm concerned." James and Katherine turned to the bigger man sitting next to them. It was a tattoo of a woman in a pin-up position._

"_Oh, Jesus, Fred, you just met her last night." James said as he leaned back to get a better look at the tattoo._

"_I love her." Fred said back simply._

"_You love her after one night?" James asked, a look of disbelief on his face._

"_She's a gymnast." Fred said, causing Katherine and Bradley to smile._

"_Bradley, take her down." Stryker said to the man before he used his powers to cause the plane to descend. As the plane began to move downwards, James groaned and immediately assumed the position he was in moments ago._

"_Are you gonna puke?" Fred asked as he ate another bite of his protein bar._

"_If we were meant to fly, we'd have wings." James said without looking up._

"_Aw, don't worry, Nancy. More people die driving than flying." Agent Zero said to James. Katherine turned to him and glared._

"_Really Zero? How about burning?" She asked, her free hand (the hand not rubbing James' back) catching fire. Zero kept his gaze steady with hers, keeping his emotionless expression._

"_Hey, be nice." John Wraith said to her. He'd become one of her closest friends on the team, along with Fred, Bradley, and as much as she hated to admit it Wade. "Or be your approximation of nice." Katherine let a small smile grace her features as she turned back to John. The man turned his attention to James, a small smile on his face. "Would you like a bucket?"_

"_No." James said, shaking his head softly._

"_Wheels down in Lagos in five." Stryker said. Katherine couldn't help but realize how much of a turn her life had taken from the time she'd been a child, just learning about her powers until now._

"_Tell him this rock is more valuable to me than his life. Ask him where he found it." Stryker said to Wade so that he could translate. Katherine stood beside James, trying to figure things out. They'd just busted up a huge diamond ring to only take a "souvenir" that Stryker wouldn't tell them what he wanted it for. She could smell the metal from where she was standing, it was like nothing she'd ever smelt before and she prided herself on her senses being higher than even her brothers._

"_He says it came from the sky." Wade said back after he'd translated._

"_He's telling the truth." James said from beside her._

"_You don't know the language, Logan." Stryker said to the man with a smirk on his face. The fires around them began to burn brighter, Katherine was making it known in a nice way she didn't like the jab Stryker had taken at James with using his supposed biological last name. Stryker glanced at her, his eyes narrowing slightly before he turned them back to James._

"_It's a meteor fragment." He finished his thought, ignoring Stryker's comment._

"_I know what it is. I'm asking him where he found it." Stryker said._

"_Sir, base wants to know our location." Bradley said from behind the group. He'd always been a smaller man, not much for fighting like the rest of them._

"_Shut them down." Stryker replied. Bradley nodded his head, closing his eyes for a moment to shut off the connection._

"_Tell him everyone here will die unless he tells me where he found the rock." Stryker said, causing Katherine to look up in shock. Over time, the killing had begun to get old. She would rather not do it anymore but it was what kept her brothers together and by her side. Her eyes strayed to Victor, who stood a few steps off to the side of Stryker. He was watching the man before he turned his eyes to her. He wasn't Victor anymore. He wasn't their big brother. He had been consumed by whatever monster had made their way into him. Katherine knew it and she was pretty sure James knew as well. She glanced at Wade, he was wearing a similar expression but she wouldn't expect anything less from the mercenary. Wade sighed before translating what the man had just told him._

"_He says that it's sacred."_

"_Okay, fine." Stryker said before standing up, walking over to Victor, laying a hand on his shoulder. Katherine watched in silence, tilting her head slightly. Her brother took a step forward, grabbing the man by the back of the neck, breaking it easily. Some of the people got up and ran, Zero opened fire only to be tackled to the ground by James. Victor and Wade were taking people out left and right._

"_VICTOR!" James called out to their brother before getting up running to stop him. Katherine turned her attention to Wade, running to stop him before he killed a woman with a child. She stepped between them at the last second, taking one of Wade's swords through the left side of her abdomen; she gripped the wrist holding onto the hilt of the sword. The mercenary stood stark still, looking at the woman in surprise. She coughed, some blood dripping down her chin as she looked up at the man before turning her attention to Victor and James. Her brothers glanced around at the rest of the team, only to stop when they saw Katherine impaled by one of Wade's swords. She pushed the man back, covering the wound as it began to heal. Katherine made her way to her brothers._

"_This is what we do." She heard Victor whisper to James. "Maybe you and Kathy would rather be rotting in a whole somewhere till they figure out a way to do it to us. Is that is?"_

"_I'm done." James said, ignoring Victor's comment._

"_Me too." She said, glancing down at the wound, seeing it was almost all the way closed up._

"_You coming?" James asked him. There was a moment of stillness between them before James turned and walked away. Katherine spared one more glance at her older brother before she followed James' lead._

"_Jimmy! Kathy!" Victor called to them, causing then to stop and turn to face him. "We can't just let you walk away." Katherine watched as James' reached up and pulled his dog tags from around his neck and threw them towards Victor. Katherine reached up and did the same. "Jimmy!" He called but got no response. "Kathy!" Again, no response. The team stood silently as the pair of them walked out of sight into the forest. It hurt her just a bit. Leaving her big brother behind but she knew he wasn't their brother anymore. She didn't want to kill, even if it kept them together all of these years, she didn't want to kill anymore. She glanced up at James, where were they going to go now?_

"_Alright, class dismissed." Katherine said as she packed up her materials. The kids left quickly, making their way out and either to their rooms or their next class. The woman had been here witch Charles Xavier in Westchester, New York for a number of years, at first she was here to learn to control her powers (which didn't take long) and then he offered her a teaching position, which she accepted. She loved the man and she loved what he was doing for the young mutants of the world. She had just finished putting everything into her bag when she got a telepathic message from the professor that she was needed in his office to show someone around. She grabbed her bag and began down the hall. She jogged down the hall when she saw Scott and Ororo enter the office._

_She slipped in before Scott, smiling at him before throwing her bag down beside the doors. She looked up and it felt like her heart stopped. Standing in front of her was her little brother, James Howlett. He was looking around confused like he didn't even recognize her._

"_Ah, Logan, I would like you to meet Ororo Monroe also called Storm and this is Scott Summers also called Cyclops. And lastly, this is Katherine Howlett also known as Mother Nature." She watched as Scott offered his hand to the man but "Logan" never took his eyes off of her._

"_Do I know you?" He asked, tilting his head to the side._

"_That depends." She said, pushing her hands into her jean pockets. "What do you think you remember about me?"_

"_I remember a little girl, older than me. She looked like you. Her name started with a K." The woman couldn't help but smile._

"_Yeah, that was me. I'm your older sister Logan." The man's eyes widen in surprise as he took in the news._

"_You are?" She nodded her head but didn't move towards him. It seemed like he didn't have any memory so he may not even trust her fully. She just would have to take her time and let him remember everything on his own, before she could say anything else; Jean came into the room then._

"_I believe you've already met Dr. Jean Grey." The professor said, drawing Logan's attention from her to the redheaded woman that had entered the room. "You're in my school for the gifted. Mutants, you are safe here from Magento."_

"_What's a Magneto?" Logan asked him._

"_A very powerful mutant who believes that a war is brewing between mutants and the rest of humanity. I've been following his activities for some time now. The man that attacked you is an associate of his called Sabretooth." Katherine tensed at the name but tried to relax before anyone saw it. Logan turned to Storm._

"_Storm?" He then turned to Katherine. "Mother Nature?" He clicked his tongue causing her to raise an eyebrow. "And what do they call you? Wheels?" He asked chuckling before turning to leave, noticing Scott hadn't moved. "Cyclops right?" Logan asked before reaching out and grabbing the man by the collar. "You wanna get out of my way?" Katherine stepped between them, pushing Scott away from Logan. Her brother looked down at her, as if remembering something. Charles voice drew his attention._

"_Logan, it's been almost fifteen years, hasn't it? Living from day to day, moving from place to place with no memory of who or what you are." Logan turned to the man quickly._

"_Shut up." Katherine took a step back before stepping by Logan's side, in case she had to stop him. She wasn't sure how much he'd changed in the last twenty-one years since she'd seen him._

"_Give me a chance. I may be able to help you find some answers and even if I can't… Katherine can." Logan glanced at her before turning back to Charles._

"_How do you know?" Charles said something to him telepathically because he began to look around frantically. He turned his gaze back to the professor before smirking._

"_What is this place?" He asked. Katherine and Charles gave Logan the tour, stopping to watch Rogue interact with some of the other kids. She smiled slightly when she saw John Allerdyce take his lighter and make a fireball behind his back. He was trying to impress Rogue._

"_I thought you took his lighter away?" Charles asked her with a knowing smile. Katherine put her hands in her jean pockets and rocked back on her heels slightly._

"_What can I say? I know how much fun it is to control fire." Charles chuckled before turning back to the scene. Bobby Drake then reached out, using his ice powers to freeze the fire. It dropped from John's hand onto the ground, shattering. This grabbed Storm's attention, which she scolded the boy with a tone before turning back to the lesson. Bobby then began to talk to Rogue before making an ice rose for her. The tour continued and the professor made a deal with Logan that he'd accepted. He would stay and let the Professor and Katherine try to help him figure out his past and remain at the institute, safe from Magneto. Katherine stood up from her seat in his office, placing a kiss on the top of Logan's head. "Good to have you back Jimmy." She said before she walked down the hall to her next class. Her brother was back, safe and sound with her. Nothing could make it any better._


	2. The Beginning

**A/N: Here's chapter two! Please review, fave, and follow!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Katherine!**

It had been a little over a year since Logan had come to Charles' school and he always almost fully capable of remembering Katherine. Some other things were still a blur but every day he spent with her, she was becoming more and more clear. She was extremely happy about that. That day, she was teaching a Danger Room session, Logan by her side, both in their X-Men suits. Logan's had orange trim and was a full body suit. Katherine's was lined in silver and was a black vest that exposed her midriff and a pair of pants with knee high boots and a pair of mid-bicep fingerless gloves. Her black hair was pulled back into a ponytail so it didn't get in her way. She clapped her hands, gaining the attention of the students in the room.

"You all lasted longer than I expected so good job on that." Logan chuckled by her side, arms crossed over his chest as he watched her. "You have to work as a team. There can't be one cowboy on a mission like this. You have to keep up with each other and watch each other's backs. You never know what'll happen on a mission like this so be ready for anything." The Danger Room door opened and Charles came through, a man beside him that she'd never seen before but he was dressed formally.

"Alright guys. Class dismissed and I'll see you back here tomorrow. Allerdyce!" She called to the blonde fire-wielder. "You did good today, just try to wait for the others okay." She smiled at him, causing him to smile back. He looked up at Katherine as a mother and she often felt like he was her own son. He came to her with anything and everything.

"Thanks." He said before grabbing his bag and leaving the room.

"Problems?" Charles asked her as he and the man came closer, smiling at her.

"Nope, just a lapse in teamwork. Nothing we can't fix." She smiled at Charles before turning her attention to the man next to Charles.

"Hi, I'm Agent Coulson. I'm here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D." Agent Coulson said as he held his hand out to the woman. She glanced at it before reaching forward and shaking it.

"Katherine Howlett but I'm sure you already knew that if you're here at the lower levels. This is Logan." Katherine said, nudging her head towards her brother.

"The brother, it's nice to meet you." Coulson held his hand out to Logan but the man just watched him. Coulson retracted his hand before handing her a file. "We need your help. S.H.I.E.L.D is putting together a team and we need the best of the best." He said. Katherine thought back to the last time she was on a team… it hadn't ended so well. Almost everyone from that team was killed by her wayward brother, Victor Creed. "It's nothing like what General Stryker had done. We're going to save the world." Katherine watched the man, he was telling the truth.

"What would I have to do?" She asked. He placed the file in her hands.

"Read that and come help us." He said with a small smile. "My card is in there if you need to ask anything." He said before nodding to the two siblings. "Thank you for your time Professor Xavier." Charles smiled.

"It wasn't a problem Agent Coulson." Charles said as he rolled out of the room, Coulson following behind him. Once the door was shut, Katherine looked down at the file in her hands.

"You're not seriously considering it!" Logan said as he watched the thoughtful expression on her face.

"What if I don't and this is serious? Like they actually need my help…" She asked, glancing at the file again.

"Then they can find someone else." He said, heading to the locker room to change.

"They wouldn't have come to me if they had someone else." She said to him, watching as he stopped and turned to her. "If this is about me leaving I promise that I'll be extremely careful and back in no time." He sighed and turned to her.

"I just got you back and I don't want to lose you again." He said, looking away from her. She smiled, closing the distance between them, and laid a hand on his arm.

"Like I said, I promise I'll be back in no time. Let me go see what this all about." She said, happy that Logan was accepting that she needed to go. Together, they grabbed their bags and walked down the halls to the elevators. They exited the elevator, nodding to Charles as he waited for them.

"I'll see you before you go." Logan said as he turned down the hall towards his room.

"Alright." Katherine said before making her way to her room.

"Katherine, have you decided what you're going to do?" Charles asked her as he followed her to her room.

"I have professor. Logan and I talked about it and it's been decided that I'll be going to see what this is all about." Charles nodded his head as she grabbed a new outfit and walked into the bathroom to change. She took a quick shower before drying off and changing. When she came out, she was in a dark green tank top; a black leather jacket over it, a pair of dark blue skinny jeans tucked into black knee high boots. She stuffed her costume into the bag before putting more clothes on top of it. She talked to the professor a little while longer before they made their way to the garage. She smiled when she saw Ororo, Scott, Jean, Hank, and Logan waiting for her. "You guys didn't have to do this." She said, hugging Ororo first.

"Yes we did. We'll miss you and just wanted to let you know that." Ororo said as she pulled away from the hug. Katherine smiled before she hugged Scott.

"Be safe and don't do anything I wouldn't do." They pulled away and Katherine pouted.

"Well, that would make it a boring trip." She said, chuckling when Scott rolled his eyes. She could tell even behind the ruby glasses. She hugged Jean. "Keep these boys in line." She said, smiling at Scott, Hank, and Logan. Jean chuckled.

"I will." Katherine then moved over to Hank.

"I'm sorry we can't spend more time together but I guess this is important." She said, hugging the blue furred man. He chuckled softly.

"That's alright Katherine. We'll see each other more when you get back." She smiled and nodded her head.

"That's right." She then moved to her brother, hugging him close to her. "I'll miss you Jimmy." He hugged her back just as tightly.

"I'll miss you too Kat. Please be careful." He said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. She nodded her head, burying it deeper in his chest for a moment before pulling away.

"I will. Keep an eye on John for me." Logan chuckled at the request.

"I will." He said causing her to smile. She then turned her attention to Charles, smiling at him before leaning down to hug him.

"Thanks again Charles, for everything you've done." He hugged her back, patting her back lightly.

"It was the least I could do." He said, smiling at the woman as she pulled away and stood up straight.

"I best be going." She said, moving towards her car of choice, a black Mustang GT. "I'll make sure to keep in touch." She said before getting into the driver's seat and taking off. She glanced in the rearview mirror, watching as they all waved at her. She pursed her lips before grabbing Coulson's card out of the file, which was sitting in the passenger seat, and quickly typed his number in her phone. She hit the little green button and waited for an answer.

"Katherine. What have you decided?" He said when he answered the phone.

"I'm on my way. Where am I going?" She asked, turning onto the highway.

"You're going to Brooklyn first. There is someone else I need you to pick up."

"I didn't agree to that."

"It'll be easy. Just hand him the file and tell him what I told you. If you need any help, call me and I'll explain it to him." Katherine pursed her lips again. She didn't agree to that but she wanted to know if this was going to be an important mission… she guessed she was going to Brooklyn.

"Fine. Send me the address." She said before hanging up. A few seconds later, her phone buzzed, letting her know that she had a text. She glanced at the address before turning off at the next exit.

She walked inside the gym, it was very old-fashioned. There was a boxing ring as well as a few other things. She also happened to notice that is was empty… although it was almost ten o'clock at night. Her attention was drawn to the man punching at the punching bag. He was THE Captain America she had heard so much about during World War II. She tilted her head; he was in peek physical form for a man that had been frozen for the last seventy years. She watched him punch, the angrier he got the more powerful his hits became. Katherine was a little surprised when he punched it so hard that it broke the hook from the ceiling, sending the bag flying across the floor. He stopped for a moment, looking at the bag before walking over to the line of them he had laying on the floor. He grabbed a new one before hanging it up, he did it all with one hand… he really was something else. He steadied it before he resumed punching. She took in a deep breath.

"Having trouble sleeping?" She asked from her place by the door. She slid her hands into the pockets of her jeans as the man looked at her.

"I slept for seventy years ma'am. I think I've had my fill." He said as he turned back to the bag, punching a few more times. He didn't even ask who she was. Katherine decided that it was safe to come in further. She began taking slow steps into the gym.

"Well then, you should be out and celebrating. Seeing the world." He stopped and looked at her again. Now she was close enough to see his dirty blonde hair falling into his blue eyes. He was handsome; there was no doubt in Katherine's mind about that fact. He had a thin layer of sweat on the skin that Katherine could see and he was panting slightly from the punching. He turned his back to her, walking over to the bench where his stuff was. He was un-wrapping his hands as he went. She slowly and silently followed him, keeping a small distance between them.

"When I went under, the world was at war. I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost." He said as he paid more attention to his hands than her.

"I know." She said softly and it caused him to look up at her. "You aren't the only one who has seen war. I spent a large majority of my life in them." She said, flexing her fingers in her pockets, causing her arms to tense briefly before she relaxed them again.

"What do you mean?" He asked. She sucked on her teeth for a moment before deciding to tell him.

"My brothers and I have a power that lets us heal at a supernatural rate. That power has allowed us to live for quite a long time." He was watching her closely. "I was in World War II when I heard about Captain America and how you were going to be the key for defeating the Germans. They were right." He turned away from her, looking at something supposedly more interesting for a moment. "I've been in both World Wars as well as the Korean War, which you weren't here for. I know America's made a fair share of mistakes." He turned back to her, watching her for a moment before pushing his wraps into his bag.

"Steve Rodgers." He said turning to her and holding out his hand for her to shake.

"Katherine Howlett." She shook his hand firmly, a small smile on her face.

"As you know I'm Captain America. What do they call you?" He asked with a small smile as he sat on the bench.

"I'm not really a hero like you but I'm called Mother Nature. Not only to I have that healing factor I told you about but I can control multiple elements, the weather, and as my name suggests nature such as trees." There was a pause that could have been described as slightly awkward.

"Not to sound rude ma'am but why are you here?" He asked, his expression losing its surprised factor.

"I have a mission from S.H.I.E.L.D. I got drug into it and was asked to come bring this to you on my way there." She opened the file, handing it to Steve. He looked at it for a moment before taking it from her hands.

"HYRDRA's secret weapon." Steve said as he looked over the file.

"From what I've gathered, after you went into the ocean with it Howard Stark fished it out while looking for you." Steve looked up at her. "He, as well as much as S.H.I.E.L.D, thinks the Tesseract could be a source of unlimited sustainable energy." Steve flipped through the file before handing it back to Katherine. She took it, watching his expression.

"You wouldn't happen to know who took it from them…" She shook her head at his open ended question.

"I haven't been in contact with S.H.I.E.L.D long enough to really tell you. I have a number here that you can call with these questions though." She said, pulling Fury's card out of the file (it had been hidden in the back in case of emergency). Steve took the card from her, reading over the name, immediately recognizing it. "I'm not asking you to join. I don't even know why I did but the world is much stranger than the time we came from."

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me." Steve said, finally looking away from her as he got up to collect his stuff.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong." She said with a smirk in place on her face. Steve glanced up at her before standing to gather his things before grabbing one of the punching bags and holding it on his shoulder with ease. Katherine glanced down at her watch and groaned. "Now I have to find a hotel around here…" Steve stopped and glanced over his shoulder at the woman.

"There aren't any good hotels around here. You can come back to my place if you would like." He said, not believing that he'd just offered to have a woman he didn't know to stay at his apartment. Katherine looked to be thinking the same thing.

"I don't want to intrude." She said, slipping her free hand into her pocket while the other hand held the file.

"No, it's alright." He said, giving her a small smile. She gave him one back before pointing out the door she'd just came from.

"My car is that way, I'll follow you." She said before turning and walking down the hall to her car.

"I don't have a car." He said, stopping her. She turned back to him and smiled slightly.

"Then come on. I'll give you a lift. I would feel bad if I drove and you walked." Steve watched her for a moment before following her to the car. She was going to Captain America's apartment and riding with him there… things were getting interesting.


	3. Loki, God of Mischief

**A/N: I finally got a chance to continue writing! Thank you to everyone who has followed, favorite, and reviewed! It means a lot to me! Please review, favorite, and follow!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Katherine!**

The next day Steve and Katherine were on a jet with Agent Coulson on their way to their new "home away from home" for the next… however long they were going to be with S.H.I.E.L.D. Katherine and Steve were sitting beside each other, reading a little more about each of their teammates. Steve seemed particularly interested in Dr. Bruce Banner (aka the Hulk).

"So this Dr. Banner was trying to replicate the serum they used on me?" Steve asked Coulson as the agent took off a pair of headphones.

"A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero." Coulson said. "Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."

"Didn't go his way, huh?" Katherine asked, leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes briefly.

"Not so much." Coulson answered her. "When's he's not that thing, though, the guy's like a Steven Hawking." Steve looked up at the man, not getting the reference. Katherine chuckled softly, leaning forward so that Steve's attention would be drawn to her.

"He's like… a really smart person." She said, a smile on her face causing the Captain to smile as well before he turned back to the things he was reading.

"I gotta say… it's an honor to meet you officially. I sort of met you. I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." Steve had smiled when Coulson had said it was an honor to meet him but as the man went on, it became a little awkward. Steve looked away from the man before turning to Katherine, who was covering her mouth to prevent from laughing out loud. "I mean, I was present while you were unconscious from the ice." Steve got up and walked over to the cockpit as Coulson tried to explain himself without being too creepy. "You know, it's really just a huge honor to have you on board this…" Coulson finally stopped himself and back at Katherine as she laughed silently to herself.

"I hope I'm the man for the job." Steve said quietly.

"Oh you are. Absolutely. We made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input." Steve looked at Coulson confused.

"The uniform?" He asked. "Aren't the stars and stripes a little old-fashioned?" Katherine stood up, drawing both men's attention to her as she walked over to Steve and laid her hand on his shoulder.

"With everything that's happening and things that are about to come to light… people might just need a little old-fashioned." Steve watched her for a moment before looking back out of the window.

They landed on an aircraft carrier. As Coulson led them off the jet, he stopped a few people. "Stow the Captain's and Howlett's gear." Katherine noticed a redheaded woman coming towards them. "Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers and Lieutenant Howlett." Katherine glared at the man nobody had called her Lieutenant since Stryker and the Team X incident, since not many people knew of her Army background.

"Ma'am." Steve said.

"Hey." Katherine said with a small wave.

"Hi." Agent Romanoff said to them. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace."

"See you there." Coulson said as he headed off in the direction she'd just come from.

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice." Natasha Romanoff said to Steve as they walked. "I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" This caught Katherine's attention as well.

"Trading cards?" Steve and Katherine asked together.

"They're vintage. He's very proud." Natasha said back. They noticed a man standing on deck, looking a little out of place, nervous and jittery.

"Dr. Banner." Steve said to the man, causing him to turn towards them. It confirmed that he was Bruce Banner.

"Yeah, hi." Bruce said as he came over to them. He shook Steve's hand first before moving onto Katherine. "They told me you would be coming."

"Word is that you can find the Cube." Steve said once Katherine and Banner had released hands.

"Is that the only word on me?" Bruce asked, a little unsure.

"Only word I care about." Steve said and Bruce nodded.

"It must be strange for you, all of this." Bruce motioned to everything around them.

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar." They took a few steps, looking around before Natasha came to stand beside Katherine.

"Gentlemen and lady, you might want to step inside for a minute." She said. "It's going to get a little hard to breathe." There was a sound of something transforming around them, like the ship was going to become something else.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked and Bruce chuckled humorlessly.

"Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurized, metal container?" He asked no one in particular as he, Steve, and Katherine walked over to the edge to look down. Natasha stood behind them and watched on silently. Turbines came out of the water and began to lift the entire ship up into the air. "No, no, this is much worse." Bruce said.

"I don't know about you boys, but I'm going inside." Katherine said as she turned to the redheaded woman behind her. "Lead the way Natasha." The woman smiled slightly, leading her across the deck and into the halls. Bruce and Steve glanced at each other for a moment before they followed.

They walked into the main control room. It was huge! There was a wall of glass and a lot of agents walking around and talking. There were also a ton of computers that would keep the agents busy as they checked whatever Fury needed them to check. Steve walked passed Katherine, his hands in his pockets as he looked around, a small smile on his face. Bruce looked like he was walking around; looking for a way out, in case he should need it.

"Gentlemen and Ms. Howlett." He said as he turned to the three behind him. Steve reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten, handing it to Katherine. She glanced at the bill for a moment before remembering what she'd said back at the gym. She smiled slightly as she took it, pushing it into her back pocket with her cell phone. Fury turned his attention to Bruce as Steve and Katherine looked around at the screens that they could see. Katherine's brow furrowed in confusion about what Bruce had said when he explained to Fury what he needed to find the cube. She glanced at Steve, who shrugged his shoulders.

Katherine was sitting at the table, playing with her phone as she ate a protein bar. As much as she hated them back when she worked with Stryker, she had to admit, they had their purpose. She was bored, there was nothing going on except for Coulson and Steve talking about the Captain signing the trading cards. Although, that within itself was pretty funny.

"Got a hit. A 67% match." An agent said, causing Katherine's head to snap up as she stood from her chair. "Wait, cross match, 79%."

"Location?" Coulson asked as he approached the agent.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28 Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding." The agent said.

"Captain. Lieutenant." Fury said, both heroes turned their attention to him. "You're up." Steve sighed as he made his way to where they were keeping his costume. Katherine walked back into her room, pulling out costume that she'd brought from Charles' school. She slipped it on quickly and stepped back into the hallway, pulling her hair into a ponytail as she walked. She met Steve half way to the jet, where they both met Natasha as they got ready to depart. When they got close to the location, Natasha landed the jet on a roof briefly so that Steve and Katherine could get out. They watched as Loki, the Norse God of Mischief, walked through a crowd of kneeling people before an older man stood up to him. As the man talked with Loki, Katherine noticed how the gem in his spear began to glow.

"It's now or never Steve." She said, glancing at the soldier next to her. He nodded his head before wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Hold on." He said as they jumped from the roof of the building. They landed between Loki and the old man and within seconds of landing, Steve brought up his shield to block Loki's attack. The attack ricochet off of the shield back to Loki, hitting the man square in the chest, causing him to slide back a few feet. Katherine decided that, while he was off his game, to stand up. She could feel the electricity dancing across her arms as she raised them, pointing both index fingers at the God before shooting him with that powerful electricity. Katherine's attack was enough to knock him to his knees. Loki looked up at them, a sneer on his face. Katherine glanced beside her as Steve began to walk towards Loki. "You know, the last time I was in Germany and I saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

"The soldier and the mutant." Loki said with a chuckle as he stood up. "The two heroes out of time." Katherine quirked an eyebrow at Loki's statement. How did he know she was "out of time"?

"We're not the ones who's out of time." Steve said back. At that moment, the jet appeared behind them and a second later, Natasha's voice came over the PA system.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." He blasted at the jet; Natasha was just able to get it out of the way. The Captain threw his shield, knocking Loki back. The people all around them got up and began to run to a safe place. Katherine ran at Loki, punching him in the face, only to have him look back at her.

"Shit…" She mumbled as Loki brought up his staff to hit her. She closed her eyes but opened them again when she heard the sound of metal on metal. She looked up and saw that she was being protected by Captain America's shield. Loki smacked the shield out of the way before hitting Steve in the stomach in the stomach, knocking the man back. Katherine sidestepped just in time to avoid being taken out by Captain America's body. She turned back to Loki, only to receive a hit on her left temple, knocking her down onto her side. Steve threw his shield once more, only to have Loki bat it away with his staff this time. Steve jumped into action, fighting him hand-to-hand. He'd landed some pretty good hits but eventually, Loki got the upper hand once again, knocking Steve back onto the ground. Once Steve was kneeling, Loki walked over, pressing the end of his staff against the back of his head.

"Kneel." Loki said to him in a commanding voice. Katherine was finally able to sit up, the world no longer spinning around her. She glanced over at the two, noticing that the Captain was a little out of breath. She quickly got to her feet, ignoring the throbbing pain in her head, before running over to them.

"Not today!" She said before jumping up and roundhouse kicking Loki in the head, knocking him away from Steve. That attack actually seemed to have some effect on him. Loki moved fast though, he'd gotten back up before knocking Katherine aside. He'd grabbed Steve in a chocker hold before picking him up and throwing him at Katherine as she tried to right herself. Katherine groaned when she hit the ground.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked her as he moved off of her. She nodded her head, trying not to wince at the pounding that went through it. It was definitely hurting more than before.

"Yeah, I think so." The pair jumped when the PA system began to play 'Shoot to Thrill' by AC/DC. Steve and Katherine looked around the woman_ almost_ (keyword there) smiled when she saw the familiar red and yellow metal suit blast Loki away from her and the Captain before landing. She did have to admit though; he'd always had a flare for the dramatic. Once he was standing, he held both arms out at Loki, a variety of small weapons pointed at the God.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games." Tony Stark, Ironman, said to Loki. Steve rolled completely off of Katherine before reaching down to help her up. She winced at the man pulled her up a little too fast. She leaned against him for a moment, letting the pain stop and the world to hold still. Once she was steady, he reached down and grabbed his shield before jogging to stand beside Tony. Katherine walked over, standing on his other side. Loki's armor disappeared as he raised his hands in a surrendering motion. "Good move." Tony said as all of his weapons disappeared back into his suit.

"Mr. Stark." Steve said, panting just a bit.

"Captain." Tony said, tilting his head towards the man on his left. "Lieutenant." Tony said, tilting his head to the right where the woman was.

"Stark." She said, nodding her head slightly, a small scowl on her face. She was going to get really tired of people using her rank when they talked to her. She stepped forward, pulling some cuffs off her belt and grabbed one of Loki's hands hooking the cuff to it. She grabbed his other hand before the cuff to that wrist too. She helped him to his feet before pushing him towards the jet that had now landed. She could hear Tony and Steve walking behind her. She couldn't help but think about how much her life had changed. She was now on a team with a master assassin, a green rage monster, the billionaire Ironman, and the world's first hero and to add to the list, she had just snapped the handcuffs on a Norse God. She pushed Loki into a seat, strapping him in while trying to ignore his piercing stare. Once that was done, she walked over to the cockpit. If she thought her life was weird before, things were just getting started.


	4. Thor, God of Thunder & A Superfight

**A/N: Please review, favorite, and follow! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Katherine!**

"You got any Tylenol or anything?" Katherine asked her three "teammates" as she gently touched her throbbing temple. Steve and Natasha shook their heads before Tony handed her a bottle, seemingly out of nowhere. She took it from him, popping the top off. "Thanks." She muttered as she put two pills in her mouth, taking a sip from her water bottle before handing the pill bottle back to him. Katherine glanced at the two men beside her, Tony watched the God silently while Steve looked like something was bothering him.

"What's wrong?" She asked him as she laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her and sighed slightly.

"I don't like it." Steve said as he glanced at her and then Stark.

"What?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony asked, filling in the blank, while glancing at Steve and then Katherine.

"I don't remember it being that easy." Steve whispered back to him. "This guy packs a wallop." Steve glanced over his shoulder at the God sitting silently towards the back of the plane.

"You know, now that you mention it…" Katherine said, glancing at Loki, noticing his eyes were on her. She kept his gaze for a moment before turning to Stark when he spoke.

"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow." Tony looked at Steve and a moment later, Steve looked at him. "What's your thing, Pilates?"

"What?" Steve asked and Katherine wasn't sure if it was from the Pilates part or the question itself. She turned her head to avoid letting Steve see her smile.

"It's like calisthenics." Tony answered as he turned away from Steve. "You might have missed a couple of things doing time as a Capsicle." Katherine tilted her head.

"Capsicle?" She asked, looking up at Steve. He glanced at her, shrugged his shoulders lightly.

"Fury didn't tell us he was calling you in." Steve said, referring to Katherine and himself.

"Yeah, there are a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Tony answered back. Suddenly, there were flashing of lightning and thunder rumbling around them. Steve, Tony, and Katherine began to look around at the windows. The sky had turned from a dark blue to a dark gray, lightning lighting the inside of the plane briefly.

"Where did this come from?" Katherine mumbled to herself as she tried to figure out why she didn't feel the storm coming like she does every other one.

"Kat! Can you get rid of this storm?" Natasha called back to the woman. Katherine nodded her head.

"Yeah, let me try." She said, closing her eyes and trying to dissipate the storm. The only problem was, it wasn't dissipating, not even a little. "We may have a slight problem…" This caused Tony and Steve to turn to her.

"What would that be?" Tony asked.

"That storms not dissipating like it should. It's almost as if there's something stronger than me making the storm and there's only a few things that could do that." She said, glancing out the window at another bolt of lightning. She glanced at Loki, noticing him looking a bit on edge. She nudged Steve and pointed it out to him as well. "What the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Loki turned to her; he looked a little timid and nervous.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." He said before going back to looking out the windows. Tony sent a questioning glance to Katherine and Steve; both chose to ignore the look. A few seconds later, there was a thud on top of the jet, causing the whole thing to shake. Loki and Natasha jumped at the sound while Steve and Tony got ready for a fight. Katherine right hand began to crackle with lightning while the other slipped into Steve's own. She was a little surprised by her suddenly bold move but with no hesitation, the man held it as they tried to figure out what was going on. Steve gave her hand a quick squeeze before him and Tony both moved to grab their helmets before Tony opened the rear hatch.

"What are you doing Stark?!" Katherine called out to him as her now free hand also began to crackle with electricity. A man landed on the now open door. He was large and blonde with a red cape. His armor almost reminded her of the armor that Loki was wearing when they fought. "Thor…" She said, biting her lip slightly, another Norse God. He was the God of Thunder, which explains why Katherine couldn't make the storm dissipate. She glanced at Loki; his face had turned into one of extreme worry. Tony lifted his arm to blast him but Thor hit him with his hammer, knocking the man back towards the cockpit. Thor then turned to reach for Loki. Katherine moved quickly, running towards him and grabbing his wrist. She sent a couple thousands of volts of electricity through his body. He held stark still and Katherine glanced up at his face. He was looking down at her but there was no signs of the electricity affecting him. She then remembered who she was dealing with, the God of Thunder that controls lightning as well. Before she could back away from him, he flung his arm, knocking her back into one of the metal walls. She gasped from the hard, sharp contact before she slid down the wall, settling on the floor. Thor then turned to Loki, grabbing him by the neck and pulling him up before jumping out of the jet.

"Now there's that guy." Tony said as he stood. He stepped over to Katherine before kneeling down. "You alright?" He asked. The woman nodded her head, wincing slightly as the pain came back.

"Yeah, fine." She sat up and accepted his hand, letting him help her to stand up.

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha yelled back to them.

"Yeah, that's Thor, God of Thunder." Katherine yelled back as she steadied herself against the wall. She glanced at Steve as he came to stand next to her, visually checking her to make sure she was okay.

"That guy's a friendly?" Steve said, repeating what he'd read in the file on the blonde God.

"Doesn't matter." Tony said. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." He began moving towards the rear hatch that was still open.

"Stark! We need a plan of attack!" Steve called to him.

"I have a plan. Attack." Stark said before glancing back at them. He turned on his thrusters and blasted off. Steve sighed before turning his attention to Katherine; she was still leaning against the wall.

"Are you alright?" He asked. She nodded her head.

"Yeah, a little weak. I'll be fine. I'll follow you." She said, nudging her head towards the parachute. Steve gave her a small nod before grabbing it and beginning to strap it on.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap." Natasha said back to them as she flipped a few switches.

"I don't see how I can." Steve said as he buckled a few more buckles.

"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods."

"There's only one God, ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." Steve said before moving towards the hatch. Katherine chuckled before she grabbed his shield.

"Captain, don't forget this." She said taking a few steps towards him, handing it to him. He smiled and nodded his thanks before jumping out.

"Don't worry Nat, I'll keep them safe." Katherine said, giving her a playful salute before she back flipped out of the jet. She manipulated the wind around her so that she could slow her decent a bit. Once she was closer to the ground she began to manipulate the wind more to make a platform that would lower her to the ground. It didn't take her long to find Thor and Tony fighting, since they were breaking trees down and everything. She stood on a small cliff, overlooking them. "Hey!" She called to them, throwing a fireball at the both of them and they both turned in her direction. "That's enough." She said pushing her hair out of her face. She'd lost her hair tie in the jump so her hair was loose now, falling to just above her waist. She jumped down, landing off to the side of both of them. "I don't know what you plan on doing here Thor…" She said, watching the large God.

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes." He said to her, raising his voice slightly.

"Well then prove it. Put the hammer down." She said. She tilted her head to the side; Steve was standing where she'd been standing moments ago, just overhead. She didn't have to look up to know he was there.

"Yeah… no." Tony said in response to her request. "Bad call. He loves his hammer." Thor swung his hammer without looking; it had hit Tony which sent him flying back a few feet.

"You want me to put the hammer down!?" Thor yelled to her. She fidgeted slightly; she never had the intentions of taking on a God. Loki was bad enough but now she was dealing with Thor, who was possibly, more powerful than Loki. He jumped into the air, swinging the hammer as he went. She jumped a little when Steve landed next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist before kneeling down, blocking Thor's hammer with his shield. The force had knocked them all back several feet. Katherine opened her eyes, blinking a few times. Her ears were ringing and for a moment, her vision was swimming. Once both things had stopped she sat up and looked around. Tony, Steve, and Thor were getting to their feet. They watched each other silently, as if expecting one of them to make a move after what they'd just experienced. Katherine glanced to the side, a blue gloved hand was offered to her. Without thinking, she laid her hand in Steve's, allowing him to help her up. Once she was standing, she realized that as of right now, 85% of her weight was being supported by her right leg. She glanced down, a few of the bone sin her knee were protruding in an unnatural manner. She made a small sound in the back of her throat before turning back to the three men around her.

"Are we done here?" Steve asked in a calm voice. Thor glanced around before turning back to them, nodding slightly.

"Great." Katherine said as she shifted her weight. "Let's go get Loki and get out of here." Thor and Tony nodded before they took off to go get the Mischief God. Steve and Katherine watched them silently before the Captain turned to her.

"Are you alright?" He noticed the way she was standing and it wasn't normal for her. She nodded, trying to put all of her weight back on both of her legs.

"Yeah." She said before really putting pressure on her leg. She hissed in pain, placing a hand on his shoulder as he lifted her left leg entirely off the ground. "I may have lied… a bit. It's nothing, I just have to realign my knee and it'll heal." She said while looking down at her knee, she didn't see Steve smile at her. He reached down and wrapped an arm around her the back of her knees and shoulders before lifting her into his arms. She squeaked slightly as she looked up at the man. He wasn't having any problems carrying her at all. She knew he was a gentleman, so she didn't have the heart to tell him to put her down. She took in a deep breath through her nose before laying her head against his chest. Even threw his armored suit she could hear his heartbeat. She smiled slightly, snuggling closer to him as he walked back to the jet.


	5. What's His Play?

**A/N: Please review, fave, and follow! It would mean a lot to me!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Katherine!**

The team sat silently as they watched the conversation between Loki and Fury in the holding cell area. Loki had mentioned something about the cage he was in and she'd quickly put the pieces together to see that the cage was meant for the Hulk. She glanced up at the others around her; Natasha's face said she knew it too. Katherine glanced back to the video before glancing at her foot as it rested on Steve's chair while her knee healed. The video in front of her went off; she looked up at the rest of the heroes. They remained silent for a moment.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce said, causing Katherine to chuckle slightly.

"Loki's gonna drag this out." Steve said. "So, Thor, what's his play?" He looked up at the blonde God standing at the end of the table.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." Thor said as he turned and walked a few steps closer to the table.

"An army… from outer space." Steve said, looking at Katherine for confirmation that he'd heard him right. She nodded her head.

"Well, we have a Norse God of Legend in the holding cell as well as one standing in front of us. I'm pretty sure anything is possible at this point." She said watching as he nodded his head slightly.

"So he's building another portal." Bruce said, gaining all of their attention. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor asked, a look of confusion on his face.

"He's an astrophysicist." Bruce answered.

"He's a friend." Thor said, now a little more interested in what they had to say.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours." Natasha said. Katherine noticed the change in her tone; she was upset about whoever this guy was that Loki had under his control.

"I want to know why Loki let us take him." Steve said, bringing the table's attention back to him. "He's not leading an army from here." He looked around at the other heroes.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki." Bruce said, playing with his glasses. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him." Katherine smiled at Bruce's analogy.

"Have care how you speak." Thor said. "Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. He's my brother." Katherine turned to him, laying her arms on the table without moving her leg from Steve's chair.

"Thor, he killed eighty people in two days." She said, raising an eyebrow at him when he turned to look at her. The large man paused for a moment, taking in what she'd just said.

"He's adopted." Katherine ducked her head so that no one around her would see her laughing before she leaned back into her chair.

"I think it's about mechanics." Bruce spoke up again. "Iridium… what do they need the iridium for?" He asked, leaving the question open for the other team's opinions.

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony said as he came into the room. Katherine leaned her head back against her chair.

"No!" She mumbled dramatically causing Steve to chuckle and rub her boot covered shin. She looked at him and smiled slightly before turning her attention back to the man.

"It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D." Tony walked passed Thor, patting him on the arm. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." Thor looked down at where the man had patted his arm before he turned his gaze to watch him walk away. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide as and stay open as long as Loki wants." Tony walked to where Fury would be standing, making a stupid joke to the agents, who looked up and glared at him. "That man's playing Galaga!" Tony said, pointing over to an agent in the corner. Steve glanced at the agent before turning his attention to Katherine. "He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did." The woman shrugged her shoulders before turning back to Tony. He then began to try and figure out how Fury looks at the screens where his eye was covered with the eye patch. "How does Fury even see these?" He asked Agent Hill.

"He turns." She said with her arms crossed over her chest, looking unimpressed by Tony.

"That's exhausting." Tony said before looking at one of the screens. "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily." Now it was Katherine's turn to look at Steve and raise an eyebrow. He shrugged his shoulders like she had done moments ago, causing them to smile at each other before turning to watch Tony play with Fury's screens. "The only major component he still needs is a power source of high-energy density. Something to kick-start the cube." Tony said while turning to the team, letting them know he was done.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill asked him.

"Last night." Tony answered completely serious. Agent Hill tilted her head in a confused manner. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?" Tony asked to the other heroes.

"Apparently." Katherine muttered to herself as she gently extracted her leg from Steve's hand and chair to move her knee around. It was almost completely healed so she rested it on the floor, smiling at Steve. He smiled back before turning to Tony.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" He asked.

"He would have to heat the cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Bruce said, causing Steve and Katherine to turn back and look at him.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Tony said back as he began to walk towards Bruce.

"Well, if he could do that, he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." Bruce said back to Tony.

"Finally, someone who speaks English." Tony said as he took the last few steps towards Bruce.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked as he leaned over to Katherine. She chuckled and shrugged her shoulders.

"English for them." She said as she leaned a little more towards Steve. He nodded his head slightly, leaning back over as he turned to the two geniuses. They had a brief conversation before Fury came into the room.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." Fury said as he came to stand beside Natasha.

"I'd start with that stick of his." Katherine said, leaning her head back to look at them.

"Yeah, it may be magical but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon." Steve said, finishing her thought. She smiled slightly; maybe it was a good thing she went to war. Now she had someone to help her explain a lot of what happened in WWII.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube." Fury said, drawing the two former soldier's attention to him. "And I would like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his person flying monkeys."

"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor said to Fury. Katherine opened her mouth, getting ready to tell him the reference when she was interrupted by Steve.

"I do!" The room was silent as she turned her head to look at him. He looked kind of excited for a moment before it began to fade. "I understood that reference." He glanced around at everyone before his eyes landed on Katherine who was smiling at him. He smiled back slightly, a little embarrassed.

"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony asked Bruce.

"This way, sir." Bruce said, leaning Tony down the hall to his lab.

**XXX**

"Do you really think we can stop him?" Steve asked Katherine as they sat at the table. Thor had gone off to explore the ship and Natasha had gone with Fury and Agent Hill to figure out how to get Agent Barton back and both resident geniuses were in the lab.

"Well, we have Loki. We just need to figure out how to stop Agent Barton and Selvig." Katherine said as she stood up and put all of her weight on her knee. "Those are the one's I'm most worried about because they're still on the loose." She sat back in her chair, turning to him. He nodded his head slightly. A smile spread over her lips. "So you got Fury's reference?" She asked. He ducked his head slightly before nodding.

"Yes ma'am. It was from the movie the Wizard of Oz that was released right before the beginning of World War Two." He paused for a moment to look up at her. "Remember?" She nodded her head; he remembered that she had been around at the same time.

"Yeah I do. I still love that movie." She turned her head back to him. "By the way, you don't have to call me ma'am. It makes me feel old." He chuckled.

"Well, honestly, you are older than me." She playfully gasped before she reached out smack him on the arm but he stood up from the chair so all she hit was air.

"How dare you!" She said playfully as she stood up, advancing on the Super Soldier. He stepped back every time she stepped forward, a smile on his own face, letting her know he knew she was playing.

"I didn't mean to offend you… ma'am." He said sarcastically before he playfully bowed at her.

"Well, I might be able to forgive you." She said, crossing her arms over her chest, watching him. He glanced up at her before standing up fully. "But you have to make it up to me." She stepped closer but this time, Steve didn't move. Their fronts were almost touching as she looked up at him.

"How can I do that?" He asked, looking down at her.

"Dinner and a movie? Preferably the Wizard of Oz." She said, smiling up at him. He smiled back before nodding.

"That sounds good." She nodded her head.

"Alright then, let's go see what our resident geniuses are doing." The woman said as she turned to begin walking towards the lab. She stopped for a moment while Steve was still walking. He was close behind her, almost touching, when she elbowed him in the ribs, laughing when he released all the air in his lungs from the surprise attack. She glanced back at him before jogging down the hall. She knew Steve would be right behind her.


	6. The Two Geniuses

**A/N: Another chapter! Please review, fave, and follow!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Katherine!**

"That was rude." Steve said with a small laugh when he caught up to Katherine. She let out a small laugh of her own before looking at the man.

"I couldn't resist." As they came to the door of the lab, they noticed Tony walk behind Bruce for a moment before the doctor jumped.

"OW!" Bruce said, pressing a hand to his side.

"Hey!" Steve called to Tony.

"Nothing?" Tony asked Bruce as the soldiers came into the room. Tony was looking into Bruce's eyes for any sign of green that would signal the Hulk.

"Are you nuts?" Steve asked.

"Jury's out." Tony said, glancing at them before turning his attention back to Bruce.

"I bet it is." Katherine mumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You really got a lid on it, haven't you?" Tony asked the doctor. "What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?" Katherine's brow furrowed and her head tilted when she heard the last thing Tony asked Bruce if he used to keep calm.

"Tony, I don't think he'd be a genius if he smoked weed." She said, coming to stand beside Steve in front of the table.

"You might be right Kat." He said before Steve interrupted him.

"Kat?" She asked herself. No one had ever called her that, it was either Kathy or Katherine. She turned her attention back to the three men in the lab.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked Tony again.

"Funny things are." Tony said, pointing the shocking pen at Steve.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." Steve said before looking at Bruce.

"No offense Bruce." Katherine said, trying to cover Steve's mistake.

"It's all right. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Bruce said, smiling at her before looking back down at the spear. She smiled back before turning her attention to Tony.

"You're tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut." He said as he walked away from the table.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark." Steve said to Tony. Katherine glanced over_, Mr. Stark?_ It must have something to do with his father, Howard.

"You think I'm not?" Tony asked him. "Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before?" Tony asked questions that Katherine couldn't help but ask herself several times since she'd met Coulson and Steve.

"What isn't he telling us?" Katherine asked the last question, leaning her hands on the table as she looked between the three of them.

"Yes." Tony said, pointing to her before turning back to Steve. "I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables." Steve glanced at her before looking back to Tony.

"You think Fury's hiding something?" He asked.

"He's a spy. Captain, he's "the" spy. His secrets have secrets." Tony popped a blueberry into his mouth. "It's bugging him, too. Isn't it?" Tony asked Bruce, causing Steve and Katherine to turn their attention to the man. Bruce looked up at them.

"Uh… I just want to finish my work here and…"

"Bruce?" Katherine asked, tilting her head as she looked at him. He stopped and looked at her before glancing at Steve and Tony before sighing and taking off his glasses.

"_A warm light for all mankind._ Loki's jab at Fury about the cube." Bruce began.

"I heard it." Steve said, a way of telling him to go on.

"Well, I think that was meant for you." Bruce said pointing at Tony. The iron hero held out a bag for Bruce. The doctor glanced down at it before reaching inside and pulling out a couple of blueberries. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news." Tony held the bag out to Katherine; she glanced at him before taking a few for herself.

"The Stark Tower? That big, ugly…" Steve began before changing what he was going to say when Tony turned to him with a glare. The look caused the woman to chuckle slightly. Steve's sentence trailed off, as if thinking about not finishing it… that didn't stop him. "Building in New York?" Katherine threw a blueberry into the air, catching it in her mouth before she turned back to the conversation at hand.

"Nice catch." Bruce said, smiling at her. "It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source."

"Like the one in Tony's chest?" She asked, pointing to the man. Bruce and Tony nodded their heads.

"That building will run itself for, what, a year?" Bruce asked the man beside him.

"It's just a prototype." Tony said. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."

"So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D bring him in on the Tesseract project?" Bruce said, opening Katherine and Steve's eyes to a new point. "What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files." Katherine and Steve looked at the man, surprised.

"I'm sorry. Did you say…"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide." Tony said as he walked around Katherine to stand in front of Steve. "Blueberry?" He asked the soldier, holding out the bag to him.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around." Steve said to him, his eyes never leaving Tony's face.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome." Tony said back to him. Katherine rolled her eyes and turned to Bruce.

"Is there anything I can do to help you since I know where this going." She said to the doctor. He smiled at her.

"Actually there is. If you could just keep scanning this here, I can see if I can get a frequency level." Katherine walked around the table, her heels clicking against the metal floors as she grabbed the device from Bruce's hand, gently waving it over the gem in the spear while began typing on his computer.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up." Steve said as he watched Katherine and Bruce work before turning back to Tony. "This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed." Bruce and Katherine looked up at him. "We have orders. We should follow them."

"Following's not really my style." Tony said as he ate another blueberry.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Of the people in this room, which one is, **A:** wearing a spangly outfit, and,** B**: not of use?"

"Steve…" Katherine said gently, trying to keep the fight she knew was brewing from coming out. A few seconds later, the man turned to look at her. "Tell me none of this smells a little funky to you." The former soldier turned his gaze to Tony before he began to leave.

"Just find the cube." He walked out the door, leaving the three of them alone in the quiet room. Katherine sighed before turning her attention back to what Bruce had asked her to do.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about?" Tony asked them. "I'm wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice." Katherine put the scanner down as Bruce moved onto a new instrument.

"Leave him alone Tony. He's having a hard time adjusting to life now-a-days and you're not helping." She said, leaning against the table.

"Really? I wonder why you think that…" Tony said as he checked something on a screen behind him. Katherine raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"I think there's something brewing, deep down inside you, for the Capsicle." Tony said, looking over his shoulder at her. She sucked her teeth for a moment, opening her mouth to say something when Bruce interrupted.

"Even so, he's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us." Bruce began clicking things on the screen he was using.

"What he's got is an Acme dynamite kit. It's going to blow up in his face and I'm going to be there when it does." Tony said as he moved to a different monitor.

"Yeah, I'll read all about it." Katherine said as she pulled herself up to sit on the table behind her so that she could still watch them scientists move around. Tony looked up at her from over the top of the screen before going back to it.

"Uh-huh. Or you and Banner be suiting up with the rest of us." Tony said causing Bruce chuckled from where he was standing.

"You see, I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare." Bruce said as he focused on what he was doing. Tony glanced at him before turning back to what he was doing.

"You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel trying every second to crawl its way into my heart. This stops it." He said, gently tapping the arc reactor in the center of his chest. "This little circle of light, it's a part of me now, not just armor. It's a terrible privilege." Tony had moved so that he was now standing in front of Bruce, looking at him threw the clear screen. She'd never known those things about Tony.

"But you can control it." Bruce said with emphasis.

"Because I learned how." Tony replied back.

"It's the same for me." Katherine said, drawing both men's attention to her. "My powers run highly on my emotion. I have to be careful and keep myself in check, otherwise shit goes wrong fast. I learned to control my emotions and in time, my powers as well." She glanced at the men. Tony nodded and pointed a finger at her, as if to say 'listen to her'.

"It's different." Bruce said, trying to go back to work before Tony swiped everything on the screen to the side.

"Hey, I read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you." Tony said to him, causing Katherine to tilt her head. She'd heard about the accident but she'd never read anything on it.

"So you're saying that the Hulk… the other guy saved my life?" He asked. "That's nice. That's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?"

"I guess we'll find out." Tony said before stepping back to what he was doing.

"You may not enjoy that." Bruce said.

"And you just might." Tony said back. Katherine sat silently, watching the two geniuses as they worked. There was more to each of these heroes than she had really thought.


	7. It begins

**A/N: Since you have all waited so patiently for me to continue, I decided to do two chapters today! I hope you guys like it! Please review, fave, and follow! It would mean a lot to me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Katherine.**

It had been a couple of hours since Steve had left the lab and Katherine had remained with Tony and Bruce, helping them with whatever they needed her to do. She was a little surprised when Fury walked through the door. "What are you doing, Mr. Stark?"

"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Tony said from his place, sitting on one of the tables beside Katherine.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract." Fury said to the geniuses.

"We are." Bruce answered for Tony. "The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now." Tony smirked and pointed back to Bruce. "When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." Bruce pointed to the computer behind Fury that was running the scan. The man turned to look at it with his one good eye before turning back to the three of them.

"Yeah, then you get your cube back." Tony said.

"No muss, no fuss." Katherine said, leaning back on her hands while watching the director. The computer beeped next to Tony, drawing Katherine and Tony's attention from the man.

"What is "Phase 2"?" Tony asked. Katherine almost jumped off the table when a thud resounded through the lab. Steve was standing by a table near the entrance, what looked like a gun lying where he'd dropped it.

"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons." He said as he stepped closer to Fury. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for me." Steve said with an unconvincing apology to Tony.

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're making—"

"I'm Sorry, Nick." Tony said, cutting Fury off as he tried to explain. "What were you lying?" Tony turned the screen around so that Fury and Steve could see the diagram on the screen. It was of a weapon coming together, powered by the Tesseract.

"I was wrong director. The world hasn't changed one bit." Steve said to Fury. Katherine turned her head to the door when she heard it open, she watched as Thor and Natasha came in.

"Did you know about this?" Katherine asked Natasha, sliding down from the table to stand on her feet. The redhead looked at her for a moment before turning her gaze to Bruce.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?"

"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed." Bruce said to her with a humorless laugh.

"Loki is manipulating you." She said as she walked closer to Bruce. Katherine took a step forward, blocking the woman's path. Natasha had to look up at the taller woman.

"And you've been doing what, exactly?" Katherine growled out lightly at her.

"He didn't come here because I batted my eyelashes at him." Natasha said, taking a step closer to the other woman.

"Too bad, I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." Bruce said, moving to the screen Tony had turned around. He pointed at the image with a pen. "I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." There was a moment of silence but there was tenseness in the air that you could have cut with a knife.

"Because of him." Fury said, pointing to Thor. The God looked at him surprised, pointing to himself lightly.

"Me?" He asked. Everyone had a small look of confusion on their face except for Natasha.

"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned." The rest of the heroes looked on in surprise, whether it was for the reason of the weapons or Thor's past on Earth, Katherine couldn't be sure.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor said to Fury.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" Fury said back. "And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled." Katherine was getting a bad feeling about what Fury was going on about. It most likely had something to do with mutants, since they had the powers and the means to "overthrow" the normal human race. That's what a lot of people believe anyway.

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve asked, breaking Katherine's thoughts.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies." Thor tried to explain that it wasn't his fault Loki had come to Earth. "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?" Katherine asked, tilting her head to get a better view of Thor.

"You forced our hand." Fury explained. "We had to come up with something."

"A nuclear deterrent." Tony answered for him. "Because that always calms everything right down."

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark." Fury took a jab at the iron hero.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep—" Steve said as he walked closer to Tony and Fury.

"Hold on. How is this now about me?" Tony asked Steve.

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve asked back with sarcasm dripping from every word.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor said aloud.

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury asked as he turned to the Thunder God. That began a new argument that Natasha had abandoned Katherine to join. Katherine took a step back and rubbed her temple, here comes the headache.

**XXX**

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos." Thor said, his voice booming in the small room.

"That's his M.O., isn't it?" Bruce asked from where he was standing. "I mean, what are we, a team?" Katherine gave a humorless chuckle before leaning against the table behind her; she knew all eyes were on her now.

"No way, we're like some kind of chemical mixture that makes chaos." She tilted her head up so she was no longer gazing at the floor to look at the rest of the heroes. "We're like a ticking time bomb." Fury took a step towards her, causing her to tense slightly before standing up, taking a tall stance.

"You need to step away." He said to her.

"I don't see why she and Banner can't let off a little steam." Tony said, laying his hand on Steve's shoulder. The Super Soldier batted it away.

"You know damn well why. Back off!" Tony stood still for a moment before tensing slightly.

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me." He said, completely serious.

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor." Steve said as he circled Tony like a shark. The billionaire stayed calm, slowly turning to follow the man out of the corner of his eyes. "Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." He said, turning to look into Steve's eyes. Katherine nodded her head slightly, not bad.

"I know guys with none of that with ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire." Steve smirked before turning to look at the others, his blue eyes catching Katherine's hazel as she watched the exchange quietly. He turned back to Tony.

"Always a way out. You may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers." Tony said, getting into the captain's face. Katherine was a little surprised by Tony's boldness, considering that Steve was at the peak of human conditioning and could easily hurt him. "Everything special about you came out of a bottle." There was a moment of silence before Katherine stepped forward, her heels clicking, echoing loudly.

"That's uncalled for Stark." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. "All of this is uncalled for." She glanced around at the heroes. Thor seemed to understand, as did Bruce but Fury and Natasha were going to stick together and act like they had did nothing wrong. Tony and Steve were hardly paying attention to anything else.

"Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds." Steve said to Tony. Thor laughed, causing everyone to turn to the demigod.

"You people are so petty… and tiny." Thor said, causing Katherine to crack a smile before Bruce's voice demanded her attention.

"Yeah, this is a team."

"Agent Romanoff, would you please escort Dr. Banner back to his—"

"Where?" Bruce said, cutting off Fury. "You rented my room."

"The cell was just in case—"

"In case you needed to kill me. But you can't. I know, I've tried." The room fell silent again at Bruce admitting to a suicide attempt. "I got low. I didn't see an end. So, I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?" Katherine watched as the doctor grabbed the spear, holding it tightly to the point where his knuckles turned white. Fury and Natasha moved to their guns and Katherine could feel the electricity dancing between her fingers, ready to go in case something was to happen.

"Dr. Banner, put down the scepter." Steve said gently to Bruce. He looked down at the spear in his hand; he looked a little surprised to see it there. He looked back up at the others before his computer was saying that there was a hit on where the Tesseract was.

"Sorry, kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all." Bruce said as he walked by them all to the computer.

"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.

"I could get there fastest." Tony said and Katherine knew another round of fighting was brewing. Tony and Steve began arguing by the doorway. Everyone else stood around the room, watching Bruce work while keeping an ear of Steve and Tony.

"Oh no." Bruce said and before anything else could be said, an explosion ripped through the room. The force of the explosion knocked Katherine back into a wall. She could feel her head connecting with the smooth, cold metal before she hit the ground hard, hitting her head again on the floor. She opened her eyes, letting them regain focus before she stood up, her head and broken bones healing quickly on their own.

"Put on the suit." Steve told Tony from their place on the ground.

"Yeah." He said as the Super Solider helped him up. They began moving down the hall.

"Steve!" Katherine called after him, running out the door, ignoring the unbearable pain from the broken fibula she had sustained. She didn't know what they were dealing with and she didn't want her hurt before she could tell him how she felt.


	8. Agent Barton

**A/N: I'm not very good at writing fight scenes but I tried! Please review, favorite, and follow!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Katherine!**

Steve stopped and ran back to Katherine when he heard her call his name. Once he was in front of her, he could see the blood matting her hair and back of her suit. "Are you alright?" He asked. She nodded her head, ignoring the dizzy feeling that went through it.

"I'm fine, I just was going to tell you to be careful and I was going to follow you and Stark when my wounds healed." She said, chickening out of what she was going to say. Steve nodded his head. "Besides, you can't get hurt, you still owe me dinner and the Wizard of Oz." She smiled at him and he couldn't help but chuckle.

"You're right." He said before the small smile faded. "Be careful, alright?" She chuckled slightly.

"That's my line." The looked into each other's eyes for a moment before Steve turned and began jogging down the hall Tony had ran down. So many thoughts ran threw his head before he stopped, deciding to act on the one that kept coming to him. He turned and jogged back to Katherine. Her brow furrowed in confusion as he stopped in front of her.

"What's—" She didn't get the chance to ask the question because Steve had placed a hand on her cheek, holding her still as he kissed her passionately. She blinked in surprise before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back before he pulled away. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment.

"See you out there." He said before releasing her, running down the hall. Katherine pursed her lips for a moment before she turned her attention to Natasha and Bruce, who had fallen down a hole that the explosion had created.

"Natasha! Bruce!" She called down the hole. She was truly appreciated her heightened senses, it allowed her to see the movement of Natasha at the bottom.

"We're okay." Natasha said into her ear piece before saying it louder. "We're okay! Go help Stark and Rogers." Katherine hesitated.

"Are you sure?" She asked. Natasha grunted before answering, apparently she was caught under some debris.

"Yes, now go." Katherine nodded her head, noticing that all the pain she'd experienced was gone so that she could catch up with Steve and Tony. She hoped that the assassin would be okay with Bruce.

**XXX**

Katherine ran out a door, a little surprised by the amount of wind. She closed eyes for a second before opening them again. A part of the helicarrier no longer existed, the only thing in front of her was air and clear blue skies with a few clouds. She looked around and jumped when Steve landed in front of her. "Hey." She said.

"Hey." He said before opening a control panel on the side. "Help me out here." He said as he began looking through the various buttons, lights, and wires. Katherine blinked; what were they even looking for?

"_What does it look like in there?" _She heard Stark's voice over the communicator in her ear.

"It seems to run on some form of electricity." Steve said hopelessly.

"_Well, you're not wrong. Is Katherine there yet?"_ Tony asked.

"Right here Stark but don't ask me anything about what Steve is looking for because I can't tell you anything either." She told him, looking the guts of the machine. Tony sighed. "Hold on." Katherine muttered as she quickly began to set to work figuring it out. While she wasn't a genius like Tony or Bruce but she was smart enough. She would eventually be able to figure it out. It took a few minutes but she clapped her hands, causing Steve to look down at her.

"I got it." She said, closing the panel.

"Okay, the relays are intact." Steve said to Tony.

"What's our next move?" Katherine said as she stood up.

"_Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't re-engage without a jump."_ Tony said. _"I'm going to have to get in there and push."_

"If that thing gets up to speed, you'll be shredded." Steve said to the man.

"_That stator control unit can reverse the polarity long enough to disengage maglev and that could—"_

"What?"

"Speak English!" Steve and Katherine said at the same time to Tony's explanation.

"_You see that red lever?"_ Tony asked. Steve and Katherine glanced around before she pulled on his arm, pointing to the lever on the wall across from them. _"It will slow the rotors down long enough for me to get out. Stand by it and wait for my word."_ Steve stepped as far back as he could go before jumping, making the leap to the wall with the lever. She nodded her head, impressive.

"Nice!" She yelled to him over the wind. He turned to her and smiled before he went back to waiting for Tony's cue.

**XXX**

Katherine and Steve waited patiently for Tony's cue to move. He'd just finished clearing the debris when Katherine noticed Steve shift to the side, looking at the opening leading into the helicarrier that they'd both came through. Her brow furrowed as she leaned and looked as well, there were a couple of S.H.I.E.L.D agents there. She watched as one of the agents pulled the pin from a grenade, throwing it at her. Her eyes widened as a small gasped escaped her. Before she could move, Steve had jumped back across towards her, smacking it down as he went. It exploded in the open air. Steve landed beside her and paused, panting slightly.

"Thanks." She said to him. He nodded before jumping down to the lower platform where the "agents" were. He easily knocked them both out when another came around the corner, firing at Steve. Steve grabbed a piece of broken shrapnel, throwing it at the agent exactly as how she'd seen him throw his shield. At that moment, she jumped down on the same platform, grabbing one of the discarded guns. Steve jumped up at the next level, where one of the guns had been thrown. The agent came around the corner, aiming at Steve but Katherine pulled the trigger, letting the gun fire, it had been a while since she fired a gun, especially a machine gun. The agent hid once again and Katherine jumped up beside Steve as the man took over firing at the agent. Tony hadn't said anything yet but she made her way to the lever, just in case he needed them at that moment. Steve backed up towards the lever slowly.

He glanced behind him when he felt himself bump into Katherine. She laid a hand on his back as he kept the gun aimed at the opening, keeping his own body in front of her (even though she would heal quicker than he would if she was shot). Katherine placed a finger to her communicator when Fury's voice came through it.

"_It's Barton. He took out our systems. He's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?"_ Katherine glanced up at Steve, without looking at her, he gave a soft nod.

"This is Lieutenant Howlett, I copy." She would kick herself later for using her lieutenant title, right now; she had to go catch this guy. She glanced down, not seeing the agent anymore. That was her only way in. She stepped in front of Steve, placing a hand on his chest. He looked up at her and she offered him a small smile.

"Watch my back." He nodded, still panting slightly.

"Be safe." He said, leaning forward before pecking her on the lips. Katherine smiled a little, she could get used to that. She took a few steps back, taking in a deep breath before jumping down to the lower level. She rolled when she landed before kicking the agent that was waiting in the chest, knocking him to the ground. She took in a deep breath before running down the hall.

**XXX**

She hid in the shadows as a man walked by her. His eyes were the same bright blue like the Tesseract's power, giving her a pretty good idea that this was the Barton guy she was looking for. She slipped out of the shadow, following behind him quietly. Now, she was no ninja so it was only a matter of time before he knew she was there. He placed an arrow in his bow quickly, turning on her to fire it. She grabbed his wrist, holding it away from her as he fired the arrow. She pushed the bow down, only to receive his other elbow to the nose. She hissed slightly as she stumbled back a few steps.

He swung his bow like a sword, trying to hit her. She sidestepped both times he tried it before spinning him around and kicking him. He stumbled back so Katherine bolted forward, kicking him again. He strung his bow again, firing. This time, she jumped to the side, onto the other runway to avoid the arrow. Barton followed her over and he began swinging his bow again. Katherine either dodged it or blocked it.

During one block, she grabbed the bow tightly as he tried to pull it away from her. He pushed her back into the railing hard, pulling a grunt from her lips before he elbowed her in the head. She glared at him, kneeing him in the stomach before releasing the bow with her right hand to punch him in the temple. He stumbled away from her, releasing the bow so that it remained in her hands. She stepped away from the railing and took a few more steps back, throwing the bow behind her and out of his reach.

"Shit…" Katherine mumbled as he crouched down, pulling a knife from somewhere behind his back. He came at her and the first thing on her mind was to block the knife. She reached up, blocking it but grunting as it cut through the leather of her gloves. She pushed him back only to have him come back at her. She blocked him again, punching him in the head before using both of her arms to grab his and twist it into a painful position. He grunted and threw the knife up, switching hands before slashing at her. She did a backflip, avoiding him. She caught his arm again trying her best to hold it away from herself, this time; he reached around and grabbed her ponytail tightly in his grip. "That hurts you asshole!" She said, debating whether to stay where she was or pull away from him. By this time, he had the blade of the knife pointed towards her throat.

They struggled for a moment before Katherine did the only thing she could do, she lowered her head enough to bite his forearm. He yelled out in agony as he released her hair. Katherine used the opportunity to knock the knife out of his hand and use his body to flip up. She got her knees on each side of his head before she flipped around, sending Barton into the railing head first. The woman winced when she heard his head hitting hard, it rung through the silent hall. He fell to the ground, groaning before he tried to get up, looking a little disoriented. He managed to get to his knees before looking up at her, his once bright blue eyes were now a normal looking green.

"What happened?" He asked softly. Katherine took a few steps closer, watching him. When he didn't move, she reared back and kicked him in the temple, efficiently knocking him unconscious. Katherine panted as she looked down at the unconscious man. She looked over her shoulder when she heard someone coming up behind her. Natasha was jogging towards her before she slowed to a stop, seeing Barton on the ground.

"What happened?" She asked. Katherine blew her bangs out of her face.

"We fought and I won. I knocked him unconscious; maybe it'll help with whatever control Loki had him under. He seemed back to normal the first time he hit his head." Katherine watched as Natasha kneeled next to him.

"What was the second one?" She asked, looking up at the element-wielder.

"Insurance for my safety. He had arrows, knives, and he's a hair-puller." Katherine said, rubbing the base of her ponytail.

"Other than that is he alright?" Natasha asked and Katherine could see just how much she cared for the man.

"Yeah, I didn't use any of my powers on him. It was strictly hand-to-hand. " Natasha nodded before standing up, a little slower than she should have, like she was hurt or sore. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, had a bout with the Hulk before Thor showed up. No biggy. What about you?" The redhead asked.

"Fine, the wounds he caused are healing as we speak. I'll be fine by the time we hit the deck." Katherine watched as some more agents came down and grabbed Barton.

"_Agent Coulson is down."_ Fury's voice said over their communicators. Katherine stood stark still, placing a finger over it to make sure she'd heard him right.


	9. Battle of New York Begins

"_They called it."_ Fury spoke again. Coulson was dead. Katherine dropped her hand from her communicator, dropping her head slightly. She glanced at Natasha, who was still standing by her side.

"I'm going to check on Barton." She said quietly, making her way down the hall where the other agents went. Katherine nodded her head, unable to speak as she turned and walked to the main area of the helicarrier.

**XXX**

Steve, Tony, and Katherine sat silently at the table. Fury was standing at the end of it, just as silently. Fury decided it was time to break the silence. "These were in Coulson's jacket. I guess he never did get you to sign them." Fury said as he threw the Captain America cards on the table in front of Steve. They were red with blood and stuck to the table slightly. Katherine bit her lip as she looked at them, thinking of the man that had become something of their 'handler'. "We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, the location of the cube, Banner, Thor… I got nothing for you." Out of the corner of her eyes, she watched Steve lean over and grabs one of the cards, looking at it. Tony sat silently in his seat, not looking at the remaining two Avengers at the table with him. Katherine could tell he was listening to Fury though. "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract." Fury said, beginning to tell his motives behind everything. "I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this…" Steve and Katherine looked up at the billionaire as he raised his head slightly but he still didn't look at the three others in the room. "Called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes." Katherine stood up, brushing her hair out of her face as she did so before walking out of the room, leaving the men (and Agent Hill) in the room, watching her walk away in silence.

Katherine didn't sign up for this. She didn't sign up for fighting a God and his alien army. She didn't sign up to be a part of a 'project' or 'team' like she did all those years ago. She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling slightly. She wanted to be home… with Logan and John. With her family. She didn't want to remember everything that had happened so far and everything that she'd seen. She didn't want to remember Coulson or working with the rest of these heroes. She didn't know what to think about Steve… well, sometimes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Steve and Tony step onto the platform she was on. They were surprisingly quiet for being together. The three stood, some distance apart but silently.

"Was he married?" Steve asked into the silent air.

"No." Tony answered. "There was a cellist, I think."

"I'm sorry." Steve said. "He seemed like a good man."

"He was an idiot." Tony said back.

"Why? For believing?" Steve asked while turning slightly to look at Tony.

"For taking on Loki alone." Katherine said as she crossed her arms over her chest, taking a few steps back from the railing. Both men turned their attention to her.

"He was doing his job." Steve said and Katherine couldn't help the scoff that made its way out of her mouth.

"He was out of his league. He should have waited for back up. He should have…" Katherine stopped talking as she walked towards the men, dropping her arms to her sides.

"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Kat." Steve said as he and Tony made their way towards her.

"Right, like I haven't heard that one before." She said as she walked by Steve, she noticed that Tony was hanging back a bit.

"This isn't the first time you've lost a soldier, you should—" Steve said, gently brushing his hand against Katherine's as she walked by. Both men were surprised by how quickly she turned to the super soldier, a look of anger on her face.

"We are not soldiers. Not anymore." Steve's face held surprise for a moment before he shifted it back into the poker face Katherine wasn't sure he had. Katherine clenched her jaw and sucked her teeth slightly as she watched Steve. "I will not march to Fury's life. Not again."

"Neither are we." Tony said, motioning to himself and Steve. He was hoping to ease the tension between the soldiers.

"He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does." Steve said loud enough that Tony could hear them even though he didn't take his eyes off of Katherine. "But right now, we got to put that behind us and get this done. Loki needs a power source." Katherine licked her lips has she turned her head, looking at the wall beside her. There was a streak on the wall… a streak of blood. It was Coulson's blood. "If we can make a list—"

"He made it personal." Katherine said as she turned back to Steve. She could see that he wanted to sigh.

"That's not the point."

"That is the point. That's Loki's point." Katherine said, looking between Steve and Tony. "He hit us all right where we live. Why?" She asked, watching as Tony began walking over to them.

"To tear us apart." Steve said, a little unsure where she was going with her questions.

"Okay sure, divide and conquer is great but he has to know he has to take us out to win. That's got to be what he wants. He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it." Katherine said, placing her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

"So he wants an audience." Tony said, pointing at Katherine when he caught on.

"Right, I caught his act in Stuttgart." Steve said, looking between the two.

"Yeah, that was just previews. This is opening night." Tony said. Katherine snapped her fingers and pointed to Tony, nodding slightly. Steve couldn't help but notice that the pointing habit happened when Tony and Katherine met for the first time and it had gotten worse when they'd spent that couple of hours in the lab while they were searching the Tesseract.

"And Loki's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers and parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered…" Katherine stopped, holding completely still for a moment. Both Tony and Steve raised their eyebrows at her unfinished sentence. "Son of a bitch." She said, pushing between the men and quickly making her way back inside of the helicarrier. The men looked at each other before following after her.

**XXX**

"Tony, you said that Stark towers ran off of the Arc Reactor which has an unlimited amount of power." Katherine said as she walked into the 'locker room'. Tony and Steve followed with the latter putting on the top half of his own suit to replace the tight (very tight) shirt he was wearing.

"Yeah, I'm the only name in clean energy." He said, subconsciously reminding the two of them of his rank in the world when it came to the arc reactor.

"If the Arc Reactor has an unlimited amount of energy, do you think it would have enough power to kick-start the cube?" She asked as she grabbed her suit to put it on once more.

"I think so. It may just have enough power to do that." Tony said, looking at his damaged suit that was behind a glass case.

"We need to find out whose left and get to New York as soon as possible." Steve said. Katherine and Tony nodded. "Tony, get your suit in working order and Kat, you're with me. We're going to find Natasha." Katherine nodded as she came from around the corner, her hair back up in a ponytail. She laid a hand on Tony's arm as she passed him, a silent gesture that everything was going to be okay.

**XXX**

"Time to go." Steve said as he came into the recovery room. Natasha was standing by the bed when she turned to them.

"Go where?" She asked.

"I'll tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?" He asked.

"I can." Barton said, coming out of the bathroom. Katherine looked at him, he looked alright. His eyes were a natural green/gray color and he was sporting a few small bruises on his face as well as a few scratches on his temple where she had kicked him the last time. Steve glanced to Natasha and the woman nodded her head, letting him know he was alright.

"You got a suit?" Steve asked him.

"Yeah." Barton said, nodding his head.

"Well then, suit up." Katherine said with a smirk, winking at the man before she stepped back into the hall. Steve glanced at her before following her. She could hear Natasha as she walked away from the door.

"She was the one that knocked you out." What Barton said caused her to laugh lightly.

"I can imagine." Not even twenty minutes later, Natasha and Clint met up with Katherine and Steve as they all walked to the jet.

"Hey, you guys aren't authorized to be in here." A young pilot said as he stood to stop the heroes.

"Son, just don't." Steve said to him, causing Katherine to smile again.

**XXX**

By the time Natasha, Clint, Katherine, and Steve had gotten to New York, the Tesseract had already opened the portal and some of the Chitauri had come through. Tony was doing his best to keep them at bay but there were just too many for one man. Clint and Natasha were pretty good pilots, Katherine could see that, especially when they started to take out the Chitauri as Tony laid them out for them. The ship lurched forward as Loki his it with a blast from his scepter. Steve reached out and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her into his chest as he reached up and grabbed the ceiling with his other hand, trying to hold them upright as the ship began to lose altitude, tilting from left to right violently. They crash-landed but thanks to the two experienced agents, they were uninjured. They quickly gathered their things and ran onto the chaos-covered street.

"We got to get back up there." Steve said as he led them back towards Stark Towers. There was a loud mechanical growl; it shook Katherine, as well as the others, to the bone. They slowed to a stop and looked up at the portal, some more Chitauri's came through and then a large mechanical whale-looking creature came through. It was unbelievable how big it really was. The large creature released more of the singular Chitauri onto the city. "Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asked into the communicator.

"_Seeing, still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"_ Tony asked them.

"Banner?" Steve asked as he glanced around.

"_Just keep me posted."_ Stark said before the connection was cut for the time being.

"What now?" Katherine asked, looking at Steve, he was the leader after all. He glanced around.

"We take cover." He said, causing Katherine, Natasha, and Clint to nod as they all took cover behind a taxi. They took a moment to catch their breaths the Chitauri firing attacks all around them.

"We got civilians still trapped up here." Clint said before Loki flew by overhead.

"There's Loki…" Katherine said though, more to herself but she knew the other three around her would hear her.

"They're fish in a barrel down there." Steve said as he looked over the taxi before ducking back down to avoid getting an energy blast to the head. Natasha stood, firing off a few rounds as Clint moved to duck behind the taxi flipped over in front of them.

"We got this. It's good. Go." Natasha said, looking over at Steve.

"Do you think you can hold them off?" The captain asked Clint.

"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure." Clint said as he strung his bow. Steve turned to Katherine, electricity dancing around her right arm while fire engulfed her left fist. She was ready for a fight.

"Be safe." He said as he leaned over to press a chaste kiss to her lips.

"Same to you. I got your back. Just give me the word." She said, smiling at him. He smiled back, nodding, leaning over to peck her lips again.

"Will do." He said before he stood up and ran to help some of the civilians and give directions to the police. Clint stood up, firing his arrows before Natasha stood, firing off a few rounds. Katherine stood, throwing her hands out in different directions, lightning and fire shooting out from her palms, taking out quite a few Chitauri.

"Kat! Come help me!" Clint yelled to her as he ran towards a bus full of people.

"Right." She said, ducking a blast as she ran over to him. Together they pulled some people out of the windows before she glanced at the archer.

"This is taking too long, let's try the door." She said, motioning to it with her head.

"I did, it's jammed." He said, helping a young boy out.

"Together." Katherine said, moving towards it with Clint following her. She and Clint reached and grabbed the middle of the doors, pulling them open and allowing the people to run off and to safety. Clint and Katherine ran back to Natasha's side. Clint was firing more arrows and Katherine shocking a few, frying a few more, and using her Earth abilities to throw large boulders at others.

"Just like Budapest all over again." Natasha said to Clint as she continued to shoot.

"You and I remember Budapest very differently." He said he strung his bow again, glancing around at some of the Chitauri. Katherine laughed slightly, shocking a few of the aliens.

"I expect to hear both sides of the Budapest story after this." Clint turned to her and threw her a small smile.

"You will." She nodded her head, focusing back on the task at hand. This was going to be a long fight.


End file.
